Shades of Scarlet and Gold
by Morning Lilies
Summary: The sorting of Teddy and the Weasley grandchildren. How can thirteen very different kids all end up in the same house? Well, the Sorting Hat found some Gryffindor in all of them. But that's not to say sometimes it wasn't burried very deep.
1. Teddy, Victoire, Molly

**A/N: I know these are totally overdone and cliché, but think of it as a character exercise, defining my next Generation. I like reading these because it gives a quick insight into the characters an author had developed, so I hope you guys think the same way and don't mind my over-used plot line. I figure if I'm on my third 'reading the books' series, I can't really get much more cliché, right? :D**

With four entirely different houses to pick from and personalities all over the board, what exactly were the chances of all twelve Weasley grandchildren (and one surrogate) being placed in Gryffindor? Most people said slim to none. There was bound to be just _one _who was different enough to capture the eye of another house. With bookish Rose, shy Hugo, and ambitious Molly, surely someone would break the long trend.

The teachers had started to take bets around the time Fred and James began their first year. Flitwick ended up buying sugar mice for Neville for an entire year after Rose and Albus's sorting. Professor Lancing (the new and thankfully steady Defense Against the Dark Arts professor) lost his favorite old arm chair in the staff room to Professor Bridwell (the new Transfiguration teacher) when Lily and Hugo rounded out the Gryffindor brood. Even McGonagall made a knut or two when it took little longer than three seconds for James Sirius Potter to be sorted.

It wasn't as if none of them came _close_ to other houses. But somehow, in the end, the hat always found some blazing Gryffindor-ness in each of them….

XxX

_Teddy Remus Lupin - 2009_

"Lupin, Ted!" Professor Lancing called.

Teddy's stomach leapt as he took a halting step towards the stool. He saw Rob Brunswick, a boy he'd sat with on the train, wave to him from the Gryffindor table, and tried to swallow his nerves. It didn't help that people were whispering about his blue hair. He wished he'd had the foresight to change it to a more natural color before entering the hall, but if he tried now, it would only get more whispers.

It didn't matter where he went, or at least that was what he tried to convince himself. So what if his father and his godfather and almost every adult he knew had been in Gryffindor? His mother had been in Hufflepuff. His grandfather and namesake had been a Ravenclaw. His grandmother had even been in Slytherin. It would be okay no matter where he ended up. But maybe what he was most afraid of was what he was about to find out about himself.

These were the thoughts that carried him over to the stool. Just as Lancing dropped the hat onto his head, Teddy saw Neville – professor Longbottom – give him a friendly smile from the staff table. Then he couldn't see anything but the inside of the hat.

"Ah… interesting," said a voice in his ear.

Teddy managed not to jump, not wanting to appear startled, but the hat merely chuckled wheezily.

"Can't hide anything from me, Teddy Lupin. Now what should we do with you…. Keen to learn, I see. Very keen, but patient, as well, aren't you? Happy to see others happy and not particularly snapping to go after what you want. But that's not to say you haven't got ambitions…. And a mischievous side, too."

Teddy swallowed. The hat hadn't said anything about him being courageous yet.

"Bravery? Oh yes, yes. That's something else to think about... Are you brave at heart, Teddy Lupin? But you seem ready to face whichever house I put you in… Right then, the best place for you is GRYFFINDOR!"

Teddy let out a breath he hadn't known he was holding as Lancing whipped the hat off his head and the Gryffindor table erupted.

XxX

_Victoire Ginevra Weasley – 2011 _

Victoire twisted her long strawberry-blond hair around her fingers, hating that she had a last name in the W's. She was one of the last ones standing up in front of the whole school. It didn't help that, after a quick, embarrassed sort of wave when she caught his eye, Teddy had barely looked her way _once _since she filed into the Great Hall. Right now he was too busy racing his spoon around the underside of the table with Rob to even give her an encouraging smile.

"Weasley, Victoire!" Lancing called.

Victoire saw Teddy's spoon fall with a clatter a few feet down the table from him as his head jerked up involuntarily at her name. Feeling slightly better, she moved over to the stool and slid onto it.

The voice in her ear when Lancing dropped the Sorting Hat onto her head didn't surprise her one bit because Teddy had told her all about his sorting two years ago.

"Weasley, eh? Haven't had one of those in a while…. Hm… let's see. Clever… not afraid to take the lead, eager for adventure, and with quite a streak of determination in you. Unafraid of hard work, but much too quick with daring to go anywhere but GRYFFINDOR!"

A grin broke across her face as Professor Lancing removed the hat from her head and Victoire fairly flew towards the Gryffindor table where Teddy and his friend Rob had stood up to cheer her over.

XxX

_Molly Audrey Weasley -2013_

Molly was not accustomed to being this anxious. She never did anything unless she was sure of herself, the best way to avoid failure. That was why she had spent most of the summer grilling her aunts and uncles (after Teddy and Victoire had gotten extremely annoyed with her constant interrogations and started avoiding her) about the sorting. She had read every book she could find about the houses, recorded all accounts from her aunts and uncles about how the hat had placed them, and was determined that she would convince the hat that she belonged in Gryffindor, just like her father.

She was sure that was where she would get herself sorted, so _why _was she so queasy? She glanced around at her pale, nervous classmates, a few visibly shaking. It must be the atmosphere. Their nerves were catching.

The line dwindled slowly until Molly was the only one left. She saw Teddy and Victoire sitting at the Gryffindor table practically jumping out of their seats as they waved their arms at her and raised an eyebrow at them. _Now _they wanted her attention. Molly watched on, nonplused, as the pair of them collapsed back in their seats, stifling laughter. She hadn't noticed that the two of them had spent the entire sorting trying with increasing exuberance to catch her eye, turning it into a silent and almost frenzied competition to draw her out of her thoughts.

"Weasley, Molly!" Lancing called, smiling kindly at the unlucky last student who had to stand alone at the head of the hall.

Molly saw Victoire mouth "good luck!" at her as she began to make her way to the stool, head held high and short red hair swishing around her jaw. Remembering the way her cousin and Teddy had been laughing a moment before, Molly ignored Victoire's luck.

She sat down on the stool and the Sorting Hat slid down over her horn-rimmed glasses.

"Very ambitious, you are."

The voice in her hear didn't perturb her one bit, but its vey first comments about her personality did. She had expected to hear that she was clever or bold. Ambitious was not part of the plan.

"Yes, yes, quite the desire to prove yourself. High goals, my dear, high goals. A sharp mind, no doubt about it, but always planning. Definitely a drive to work, that's for sure…"

This was not going according to Molly's plan at all. The hat had mentioned qualities for every house _but _Gryffindor. Hastily, she summoned the carefully constructed thoughts she had been practicing all throughout the rest of the sorting.

_I'm bold, daring, not afraid of anything –_

"Are you sure? You seem afraid of not being placed in Gryffindor like the rest of your father's family. Wanting to fit in doesn't seem very bold or daring to me."

_I'm not afraid! I'm a Gryffindor!_

"You _want _to be a Gryffindor," the hat said slyly. "So badly that you concocted this cunning scheme to trick me into placing you in that house. I would say your best match is Slytherin,"

_No! _

Molly panicked, wondering if the hat had shouted the last word, gulping at the thought of telling her father… of disappointing him.

_You CANNOT put me in that house! _

Not accustomed to being told what to do, the hat seemed to cool towards her.

"I can put you wherever I see fit."

_I won't go! You can shout it all you want, but you can't make me go sit over at that table. _

"Perhaps I can't, but others can."

_I swear, you will never get me over to the Slytherin table! I'll transfer to Beauxbattons before that happens. Haven't you seen all the books I've read? If you won't put me in Gryffindor where I belong, then I'd obviously go to Ravenclaw._

"You think you know how to sort better than I do?"

_I know how to sort _me _better than you do. I've known me for eleven years. You think a few seconds in someone's head means you know them? I know for a fact that you've been wrong before. _

Molly sat gripping the edges of the stool so hard her fingers were white, waiting for the hat's response. Maybe offending it hadn't been the best idea. But she was right and she wasn't going to back down.

"You have the audacity to argue with me? Very well then…"

Molly knew the hat was drawing it out simply to get back at her. And the worst part was she had no idea where her argument would land her. Slytherin, probably. It seemed like all those people were prone to fighting from the stories she'd heard. She squeezed her eyes shut, feeling decidedly sick.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Molly gasped as the hat was pulled off her head at last and cheers echoed around the Great Hall. She had forgotten about the rest of the school watching her. Before the hat could change its mind, Molly leapt off the stool and nearly sprinted down to the Gryffindor table. She didn't even complain when Victoire hugged her and dragged her down into the seat next to her.

She couldn't wait to tell her father! At the moment, Molly was too happy to be able to breathe again to think about much else, but later she would reflect smugly that she had been right after all and the hat had been wrong. Er… until the end.

**A/N: So just the first three for now! I'm kicking myself for starting a story I'll have to update, but I just really wanted to try this! Hehe, only Molly could get into an argument with a hat! As you can clearly see, some will be longer than others. Some will probably be ridiculously short because not everyone has great internal conflict. And I know that telling you ahead of time that they would all end up in Gryffindor is a bit of a spoiler, but the point of the story is more like **_**why **_**they all end up there, rather than where they're going to end up anyway. Hope that still makes it interesting! **


	2. Dominique, Louis

**A/N: Two more Weasleys for you! I hope exploring the spectrum of Gryffindor house is as interesting to you as it is to me. :) And Dom and Louis are relatively undeveloped in my stories, so hopefully a look at them will be refreshing. Really, I think the only way to really enjoy this story is if you've read something with my next gen. Not to shamelessly endorse my own fics or anything… :D **

_Dominique Gabrielle Weasley- 2014_

Dominique brushed her bright red bans out of her eyes and nervously searched the sea of faces in the Great Hall again as Lancing moved steadily through the 'R's. Victoire caught her eye and flashed her a smile and a wink, but when Dominique made to look away, dropped her chin glumly back to her hand. Teddy sat several seats down the table with his friends and worst of all, his _girlfriend, _Emily Rogers.

Victoire had refused to sit in his compartment on the train as she usually did, proclaiming that she would rather poke her eyes out then watch the pair of them be 'all over' each other. Teddy had flushed scarlet and called her immature, to which Victoire stalked away, and neither one of them had even glanced in each other's direction since.

Dominique thought her sister had a point though, as she spotted Teddy and Emily snogging under cover of the boisterous cheers and clapping for the newest Gryffindor, Tracey, Isabel. She pointedly looked away and spotted Molly at the other end of the table, predictably engrossed in some thick and boring book about magical law, not even paying attention to the sorting.

Dominique went back to observing her classmates. She wasn't nearly as anxious as she had expected to be now that her sorting had actually come. The way Victoire and Teddy told it (Molly didn't divulge 'emotional narratives') she ought to be ready to throw up with by this point, agonizing over how the next few minutes would change the course of her life. But aside from a nervous fluttering, she was perfectly collected. She had no idea why this didn't freak her out so much, but Dominique thought, as she watched 'Uppman, Christopher' shake his way over to the hat, that she didn't mind the lack of nerves one bit.

"Weasley, Dominique!"

Teddy pulled himself away from Emily long enough to give Dominique an encouraging wave as she moved towards the stool. She smiled back, unsure if it was against her sisterly duty or not. Then the hat was falling over her eyes and her worries over Victoire took a back seat.

"Very loyal, then, aren't you?" said a voice in her ear.

Dominique started, unsure if she should respond or not. Was that how this was supposed to work? But before she could think much more than _er…_ the hat was talking again.

"And quite the hard-worker it seems. Good with strategy… very curious… though perhaps not so thirsty for academic knowledge. Not a qualm about speaking your mind, have you? But a bit worried about being left behind… afraid that if I put you in a different house than your sister, you'll be out of the loop."

Dominique blinked at the inside of that hat. Was she afraid of that? Now that she thought about it, she realized she had been, though she hadn't spent much time worrying about it. She hadn't spent much time worrying about anything. Why was that?

"Because you were sure you knew where you were going," the hat supplied helpfully. "Confident and unafraid. Not to mention iron nerves. Not to worry. You'll fit quite nicely with your sister. GRYFFINDOR!"

The Great Hall reappeared before her as the hat was lifted from her head. The Gryffindor table was cheering and clapping again, but this time Teddy was too busy whistling to snog Emily. Grinning, Dominique hopped off the stool and hurried down to claim the seat Victoire had saved for her. Apparently Dominique hadn't been the only one sure of where she would end up.

XxX

_Louis Charles Weasley – 2015_

Louis pointedly looked away from where his sisters sat at the Gryffindor table, giggling and waving up at him. Honestly, why did he have to have _girls _for sisters? Teddy, sitting next to them this year, shot him an easy grin, rolling his eyes at Victoire and Dominique. His Head Boy badge glinted on his chest.

Louis unconsciously tried to imitate Teddy's laid-back manner among all his quaking classmates. There were only a handful of them left to be sorted. He observed the four house tables, trying to wonder idly which one he would be joining for the next seven years as he imagined Teddy had approached his own sorting: cool as ever.

But Louis knew there was only one house he really _wanted _to be joining for the next seven years. He _was _Louis the Brave, after all, at least according to Uncle Charlie.

"Weasley, Louis!" the man with the hat (Louis couldn't remember what he said his name was) called.

Louis hurried over to the stool, averting his eyes from his sisters' most exuberant waving yet. For the first time in his life he wished Dom and Vic would act more like Molly; she had barely even looked up when his name was called. He was glad when all he could see was the inside of the hat. Then he waited.

"Well you don't seem very excited to study," the voice said at last, just when Louis was wondering if Teddy and his sisters had just been winding him up about it talking in his ear. "Or inclined to do much more work than is needed for reasonable grades. Not particularly eager to achieve. In fact all you seem interested in is dragons."

Louis felt himself turn a little pink. Victoire was always saying he spent more time off in his dreamland chasing dragons like Uncle Charlie than he did here in reality.

"It shows you're very daring indeed," the hat told him conversationally, apparently well aware of his every thought. "Reckless too, I'd say, to face fearsome beasts. There's only one place for you, Louis the Brave," Louis thought he heard a chuckle under the last words before the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat was pulled off and Louis shot off towards the Gryffindor table, to be promptly squished by his sisters as they threw their arms around him in the most embarrassing way possible. Thank Merlin Teddy was around to pry them off.

**A/N: I know it's short, but the next two chapters should make up for it with four each, and then we'll be done! Also, I noticed a lot more story alerts than I expected to get for this, so thanks a ton guys! But do you think you could maybe drop me a line and tell me **_**why **_**you like it? Or don't like it, I'm not picky, but reviews would be sweet! Thanks!**


	3. James, Fred, Albus, and Rose

**A/N: Oh my gosh, thank you guys so much for the interest in this story! You're all wonderful people! :) So sorry it took so long to get this chapter out! Just one more to go! Now I'd like to note here that I like all the houses and believe there are brilliant people in all of them, even Slytherin. And if you are patient with me, hopefully I will be able to introduce you to some awesome Slytherins in my other story (besides Scorp, of course, who will eventually end up friends with Al and Rose, in case you don't already know :)). But anyway, yes. I like all the houses and appreciate the qualities of all of them. But the kids still live in a kind of prejudiced world… so…. Even with Harry's vouching, Al still didn't seem to want to end up with the snakes… but now I'm rambling. **

**Hope you enjoy! **

_James Sirius Potter and Fredric George Weasley – 2016_

James and Fred stood side-by-side, looking out over the Great hall. And for once, neither one was talking and there was no practical joke to speak of. They had spent ages itching to finally be here, talking endlessly about the castle and their classes and the sorting, but now it was really here, and neither of them had anything left to say.

Fred was looking nervous, and James was trying not to. He scanned the four house tables, trying to appear merely bored as he waited to be called, but nerves jumped in his stomach so badly that it felt like the dozen chocolate frogs he'd had on the train had come to life and thrown a party for all their friends.

James spotted a few familiar faces from the train in the crowd: that Emily girl his parents had practically forced him to shake hands with because they knew her parents was sitting at the Hufflepuff table, Aaron McGraw, who had shared his and Fred's compartment, mock-saluted James from the Gryffindor table with a wide grin, a Ravenclaw prefect who had caught the three of them with a WWW product was still trying to wipe the purple sludge from his glasses, and that red-headed girl who kept giving him funny looks mirrored Aaron with a cheeky salute of her own and a sneer from the Slytherin table. Glancing quickly at the teachers to make sure he wasn't being watched, James stuck his tongue out at her in retaliation before pointedly looking away.

He picked his cousins out at the Gryffindor table. Dominique glanced up from her giggling fiends to give them a wink, Louis smirked up at them from where he sat, fingering his red and gold tie and delicately rubbing in the fact that _he _had nothing to worry about this year. Molly was, as ever, studiously ignoring him and Fred. Victoire smiled and waved when she saw James looking, but he thought she looked rather gloomy, sitting a little apart from her friends.

For the umpteenth time, James wished Teddy were still at Hogwarts. As the primary source for his Hogwarts knowledge, the castle seemed incomplete without him lounging at the end of the Gryffindor table, shooting James the thumbs-up and winking beneath his turquoise fringe. It was _so _unfair that James missed being in school with Teddy by mere _months_.

"Potter, James!" Professor Lancing called, and James started. He hadn't been paying much attention to the sorting.

At his name, whispers erupted across the hall and all eyes – except Molly's – fixed on him. James froze. Normally he liked being in the spotlight, but usually it was by choice. Fred gave him a small shove, and James stumbled a little before regaining the confident stride he'd practiced in front of his mirror at home (much to Albus's mirth until James had pinned him down and threatened to sell pictures of Albus's teddy bear boxers to the daily prophet if he breathed a word to anybody).

Neville caught his eye and grinned and even McGonagall flashed a tiny smile in his direction. That was enough to surprise James out of his nerves. But then he was on the stool and the hat was being dropped over his eyes.

"Hardly a question here," a decisive voice said in his ear, just as he'd been warned. " Bold, courageous, practically made of daring nerve… not even your father's fame and the world's expectations seem to daunt you. There's nowhere else to put you but GRYFFINDOR!"

And just like that it was over. James didn't even have time to be relieved or proud about what the hat saw in him – what he had been afraid, deep inside, it wouldn't see.

The hat was off his head, the Gryffindor table was going nuts, and James was already speeding down to slap Aaron a high five and flick Louis's ear for being a git, and give Fred a cheeky wave because he was still waiting. What on earth had he been so worried about anyway?

Fred returned the wave with as much cheek and the pair of them both cracked up silently.

Unnoticed by the rest of the hall, there was a small chink of coins as the headmistress collected her winnings. With a name like James Sirius Potter, it hadn't really been a gamble.

There were only two people between Potter and Weasley in their year. Fred waited as "Stimpson Gavin" was made a Ravenclaw and the hat puzzled over "Urqueheart Cassiopeia". He'd expected it to be the most difficult part of the wait, being up there all by himself, but his jitters had left him when James had sped off to the Gryffindor table.

If James was a Gryffindor, he didn't have anything to worry about.

"Weasley, Fred!"

The hat had decided Cassie Urquehart belonged to Ravenclaw, too, and now it was Fred's turn. There was no murmuring for him. The hall was used to Weasleys by this point. But Fred didn't mind the lack of interest the school took in his sorting in the least.

Lancing dropped the hat over his head and Fred waited for that tell-tale voice in his ear.

"You were afraid I'd put you in Slytherin," was the first thing the hat said.

Fred started. He had?

"You were worried all those cunning pranks you've pulled would lead me to the conclusion that you were underhanded. Hm… an interesting way of thinking…"

_But, er, you're not, right?_ Fred thought, a little nervous again. _If James isn't_ –

"But I'm sorting _you_," the hat cut him off. "You don't want to tarnish your name, I see. You want to live up to your namesake… very loyal to your family. And concerned with 'the line'. For all your mischievous impulses, you worry over crossing 'the line'. That shows compassion and a sense of justice."

_You're not seriously trying to put me into Hufflepuff now, are you? _Fred asked incredulously. _Er, not that that's a terrible thing, but…_

"Anyone would tell me you aren't a hard worker?" the hat finished slyly.

_Well, yeah_.

"Perhaps, but you are honest."

_But has anyone _ever _lied to you? _Fred asked. _Doesn't honesty come with the whole mind-reading thing anyway? _

He thought he might have heard the hat give a wheezy sort of chuckle.

"But to business. You're clever, that's for sure, but rather adverse to the recommended curriculum. Not in pursuit of knowledge, loyal, with a sense of justice, but I would call it _nobility_. A healthy amount of daring… and plenty of courage. Eager for excitement and unsatisfied with the safe and easy… I can hardly put you anywhere _but _GRYFFINDOR!"

James's whoop echoed off the star-spangled ceiling as the rest of the table burst into applause and Fred jumped down off the stool to join them with a broad grin.

_Albus Severus Potter and Rose Megan Weasley – 2017 _

"Relax, Al."

"Who says I'm nervous? I'm not nervous. I'm perfectly fine!"

"You're going to bite your lip off if you keep that up."

Albus stopped chewing his lip with difficulty and whispered back to his cousin, "Like you're not freaking out, too."

"Of course I am," Rose breathed as 'Lilton Marshal' was called forward to be sorted. "Just in a much less visible way. You're going to make yourself sick at this rate. Mum says fear is a mental state and you can convince yourself not to be scared."

"I'm _not _scared," Albus told her.

"Exactly," Rose said approvingly.

Albus looked away from her and spotted James smirking from the Gryffindor table with Fred and their friend Aaron, who were counting dung bombs under the table. James nodded towards the Slytherin table and flashed a wicked grin in his brother's direction. Victoire reached across the table to smack him on the back of the head, Head Girl badge shining. She rolled her eyes at Al and smiled reassuringly. Dominique waved towards both of them from where she and Louis were spinning coins on the table top, trying to knock each other's allowance off the edge. Louis was too busy sending his sister's sickles toppling off the table to look up. Molly had foregone the book this year and was instead sweeping the table with keen eyes, determined to live up to the polished prefect badge on her own chest. Once, maybe by accident, her gaze fell on Rose and Albus and she gave them a tight nod, which Albus took to mean 'good luck' in Molly-speak.

"Malfoy, Scorpius!"

The blond boy Ron had pointed out on the platform scuttled over to the stool and sat down. Rose eyed him suspiciously.

"Why do you suppose Dad doesn't want me getting 'too friendly' with him?" she whispered.

Albus shrugged.

It took Scorpius Malfoy a long time to be sorted. James kept sending Rabid Rubber bands (from the joke shop of course) zinging over the Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw tables to snap a girl with red hair in the back of the neck or ear. Albus saw her slip her wand discretely into her hand, but James was spared a hex because the hat chose that moment to declare Malfoy a Slytherin. Albus thought he looked an odd mixture of relieved and disappointed as he slid off the stool to let 'McLaggen Connor' strut over for his turn.

The Sorting passed both painfully slowly and much too quickly. It seemed to Albus that he had been waiting for this moment for eternity, waiting to walk to his doom in front of the whole school. He glanced over to the Slytherin table where Malfoy and the redhead were sitting, trying to imagine himself joining them. No matter what his father said, it looked like an unfriendly lot. A thickset, black haired boy was glaring up at Albus and a girl with stringy pigtails was cracking her knuckles menacingly. He gulped.

"Potter, Albus!" Lancing called, and of course the whole hall had to buzz excitedly again at the name, craning necks to get a good look at him.

Rose squeezed his elbow comfortingly, James offered one last smirk, Victoire mouthed 'good luck', Neville winked, and then had perched himself on the edge of the stool, trembling. The hat dropped over his head, and he waited.

And waited. And waited.

Teddy told him the hat spoke in his ear. Shouldn't it have said something by now? What if he was unsortable? What if there had been a mistake and he was really a squib? Panic carried his imagination away.

"Oh, don't worry, there's a place for you. We've just got to find it."

Albus jumped at the voice, even though he'd been desperately waiting to hear it. He thought of what his father had told him.

_Erm, Mr. Hat? I'd like to go into Gryffindor, if that's alright. _

"You would, would you? And what makes you think you belong there?"

_Well, um…_

He wasn't brave like his father. He wasn't daring like James. He wasn't bold like Rose. He didn't know if he was noble or chivalrous or any of the other things the hat had used to describe Gryffindor. Why _did _he belong there, really?

"Well, if that's what you think –"

_No! I mean, please don't put me in Slytherin. Anywhere else, but please not there._

"Not Slytherin, eh? Where've I heard _that _before… but let's see, now. Too cautious to be very ambitious, you put other people before your _own _ends, not very cunning or sly…"

Albus breathed a small sigh. Anywhere but Slytherin was alright by him. He didn't even care so much if he was the first in his family not to end up in Gryffindor. As long as he didn't have to go sit with that lot that seemed to hate him.

"But that's not to say you couldn't adapt…"

Albus started. What? _But I don't fit_….

"Not at the moment, not when you don't know where you're going. But if you care enough, you can get quite fierce, can't you? If you find something you want enough, it could bring out great ambition, cunning, you could go far Albus Potter, if you took that fierceness in the right direction… and Slytherin would help you."

_I don't want_ –

"Yes, yes, I know," the hat seemed almost to sigh. "So let's see what's already here, then. Not a bad mind, but no thirst for knowledge… not very bookish… prefer to stay out of the way… You care a great deal about the people around you, and there's certainly a strong sense of justice and fairness here. Enough to fight for it? Loyal, certainly… perhaps Hufflepuff? But the question is, are you brave at heart?"

Albus swallowed. If he had to be honest… well, he was a scardy-cat. James could vouch for that. But maybe, if the hat thought he could be cunning, well, maybe he could become brave too?

"Being fearless is not the same as being brave," the hat told him wisely. "Some are under that delusion, but most courage comes from fear. Think on that Albus Potter. Since you so adamantly oppose Slytherin, we'll give you a try in GRYFFINDOR!"

The hall reappeared around him as the hat flew off his head. Rose beamed at him as Albus jumped down, practically giddy with relief, and made for the screaming table on the far side of the hall. All of his cousins (even Molly) had stood up to clap and cheer him on, even James and Fred's friends. Neville whistled, grinning as Albus sprinted down towards an empty seat by his family. Victoire hugged him, and James, who had teased him so much, grabbed him and swung him around, rubbing his knuckles hard into the top of Al's head, just for good measure.

"Knew you'd make it!" he shouted in Albus's ear.

Albus gave him an incredulous look.

"Then why didn't you say so!"

James just smirked.

Rose watched Albus being welcomed officially into Gryffindor by the rest of her family. Between all their cousins and their cousins' friends, practically half the table had come over to mob him. She wondered if she would be getting that kind of welcome in a few minutes or whether she would shock the world by being the first Weasley in generations put somewhere else.

That was when Rose caught sight of that Malfoy boy watching Albus's reception sullenly from across the hall. What was _his _problem? But remembering her vow to give him a fair chance, no matter what her father told her, she managed to stop herself jumping to conclusions. Maybe he was just having a bad day.

"Weasley, Rose!"

Rose swallowed. If she didn't have a family reputation to live up to, she thought this might be one of the most exciting moments in her life. But all she could think of as she walked to the stool was her silently waving and cheering cousins at the Gryffindor table and how the world might possibly shudder to a halt if a Weasley landed somewhere besides Gryffindor.

Her father's voice echoed in her head, 'If you're not in Gryffindor, we'll disinherit you.' He'd been joking, of course, but…

And then the hat was over her eyes and a voice was going in her ear.

"Exceptionally bright, no doubt about that. A drive to learn and achieve, you have your wits about you. Ravenclaw would be a good fit, that's for sure,"

Rose caught her breath. A part of her wanted to be different. A part of her wanted to make her _own _name for herself in her _own _house. She would love to be in Ravenclaw. But the image of her cousins all together at the Gryffindor table flashed in her mind. She felt left out already. And would Al be okay all on his own?

"Ah, I see," the hat, who had apparently been observing this inner conflict with great interest, chimed in. "A great sense of loyalty, then. And certainly passionate for justice and equality. Hardworking, not always so patient, though. Very stuck to fact and reason. Yes, you would like Ravenclaw…"

Had the hat shouted the last word? Was it definite? She couldn't tell. But the hat was still over her eyes.

"There's more here than meets the eye," it went on after a moment. "Hm, very interesting. You speak your mind, are sure of yourself, though I wouldn't call you arrogant… _Bold _is what you are. Prepared to face your fears head-on, stand out. It's tempting to put you in Ravenclaw… but in the end, but there's too much boldness for anywhere but GRYFFINDOR!"

The last word echoed in Rose's ears and almost at once the hat was pulled off her head. For a second, Rose was almost disappointed, that dream of individuality slipping away. But then she spotted all of her cousins going wild, hooting and cheering and waving her over. And has she raced towards them, towards all their different personalities, she thought maybe it wouldn't be so hard to be herself after all. In fact, maybe it would be easier with all of them to help her.

**A/N: What did you think? Please tell me! It especially helps to get feedback from this story! One more chapter! Lucy, Roxanne, Lily, and Hugo still left! :D**


	4. Lucy, Roxanne, Lily, and Hugo

**A/N: Hello? Anyone still here? Heh. I'm SO sorry I took so long to get this last chapter up. It was Lucy's fault. She was tough to sort. But now it's done and this story if finally complete and I can stop feeling guilty about it! I very much hope this was interesting for you and that it helped you get to know my next generation. It helped me get to know them! :) thank you so much for reading! Especially for those who review! You're comments fuel my writing! And now, without further ado, the last four sortings! :D**

_Lucy Rowina Weasley and Roxanne Angelina Weasley – 2018_

Lucy didn't feel nervous to the point of queasy. She wasn't stuck in painful anticipation or quaking with trepidation or any of the other symptoms that customarily rocked each new group of students who stood here. No, looking out over the Great Hall, finally included in the world she had heard so endlessly about, Lucy Weasley felt nothing but small. A vast, black ceiling littered with stars arched above her, hundreds of students stared up at her from the long tables, ghosts who had been around for centuries, watched unfathomable Sortings just like hers, the enormity of it all made her feel tiny.

As the Sorting Ceremony slipped through the alphabet, Lucy glanced down the row of first years to see if Roxanne was as daunted by all of this as she was. Her cousin was half-way down the line, whispering encouragement to a girl who had just been called forward. Lucy recognized her as one of the occupants of their compartment, someone Roxanne had gotten on easily with. Roxanne flashed a grin as the girl slid onto the stool and waited with wide eyes for the hat to be dropped over her head.

Of course Roxanne was in her element. Lucy wondered, somewhat jealously, if her cousin had ever felt small in her life. Everywhere she went, Roxanne filled the room with her bouncy attitude and enthusiasm, while Lucy huddled beside the wall.

She shifted her gaze out again, to the rest of the Hall. At the Gryffindor table, she easily picked out her many cousins. Louis, Fred, James and a couple of their friends had made some kind of battle field across the table, building forts out of the plates and cups, arranging silverware like artillery, and otherwise preparing for war. As Lucy watched with a mixture of trepidation and amusement, James caught sight of Molly's warning glare from up the table and mimed zipping his lips with a cheeky wink. They weren't _technically _being disruptive. Yet.

Farther up the table, Dominique caught her eye and waved cheerily, an old pro at lending encouragement from the sidelines by then. Lucy tried to return the gesture but her smile was weak and her wave fell flat. Near the end of the table, Albus and Rose sat opposite one another, scribbling on pieces of parchment and sliding them across the table top. Rose saw her looking and mimicked Dominique, Al's grimace and hasty imitation of her actions made Lucy guess Rose had stomped on his foot under the table.

Lucy glanced again towards Roxanne, standing with her new friends down the line. Although they were the same age, they had never been like Al and Rose. They got on well enough, but Lucy and Roxanne were complete opposites. She had never been so jealous of Rose and Albus, or Fred and James, or even Hugo and Lily before. Lucy could not count on fitting in with even one person, while Roxanne would be friends with their entire year in no time flat.

"Weasley, Lucy!"

Caught off guard, Lucy stumbled forward. She had not noticed the line dwindling to only a few people around her. She caught Molly's eye as she hurried over to the stool. Molly nodded and offered a small smile, which was more than most people could get out of her. It bolstered Lucy's confidence a little. But only a little.

Then the hat was over her eyes.

"Feeling small, Lucy Weasley?"

The voice in her ear made Lucy shrink a little, fold in on herself as she sat nervously on the stool. The hat made a noise of affirmation at her reaction.

"Not the first one to be dwarfed by the castle… but let's see what else is here. You're not a daredevil, are you? No… not one for daring or chivalry. You aren't particularly sharp, either, though that's not to say you aren't smart… sensible is what you are. And very loyal. Oh yes, quite a lot of loyalty here, and a good drive to work… interesting."

_Hufflepuff_, Lucy thought. She didn't think Hufflepuff sounded too bad. They all looked rather nice and friendly. And she wouldn't have to worry about being brave there. She could be as cowardly as she wanted and no one would have any problem with it.

But a small cornel of disappointment hardened inside her. She couldn't be smart and bold and _perfect _like Molly, she had known that from the start, wouldn't have her father bragging about her good grades or high goals, but she could be brave like Molly. She _could _get her father bragging about how _she _had been sorted into his own house.

Well, she couldn't have that now. She would be Lucy the freak, first Weasley sorted out of Gryffindor in three generations at least. It was something to set her apart, finally, she tried telling herself glumly.

"But whoever said you weren't brave?" the hat asked.

_Erm, you?_ Lucy ventured, speaking for the first time directly to the hat.

"Not daring, no, but I never said you weren't brave. Hufflepuff would suit you nicely, that's for sure, but…"

Lucy waited patiently, but the hat had lapsed into silence.

_But…what? _She finally asked, suddenly worried the hat had decided her un-sortable.

"You feel small."

_Well, I am small_, Lucy told the hat uncertainly.

"Not just here, though. Everywhere. With your sister and your father, among your big family with all those famous names. You don't think you can live up to them. You would quite like me to put you into Hufflepuff so you wouldn't have to worry about trying.

"Well, I've got news for you, Lucy Weasley. Godric Gryffindor himself spent a fair amount of time feeling small. I should know. I was on his head. But that didn't stop _him _from going ahead and being courageous anyway, and it doesn't stop you from trying to make something of yourself either. Now _that's _what I would call brave. So, on the benefit of the doubt, GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat flew off her head and Lucy looked with amazement at the wildly applauding Gryffindor table. How on earth had scared little Lucy landed herself there?

Molly stood up, grinning a real grin that Lucy rarely saw on her face, and that was all the encouragement she needed. Lucy leapt off the stool and raced down to the mob of cousins waiting for her, red braids flying behind her. Now she would have to be as brave and bold as all the rest. But she didn't feel quite so small all of a sudden. If the Sorting Hat thought she belonged here, well, then she would just have to prove him right.

"Weasley, Roxanne!"

Roxanne finished applauding her cousin and moved towards the stool for her turn. She kept her head held high, an easy, unconcerned look on her face that would not betray the tumult of nerves jittering inside of her. The walk seemed to take forever from her place in line to the stool. She could see all of her cousins watching intently, her brother most intently of all. As she sat down on the stool and the hat began to lower over her eyes, she spotted Fred whip out his scarlet handkerchief and wave it like a flag at her. It was an old symbol of encouragement they had come up with when they were small and it made Roxanne grin broadly.

Then the hat was over her head and she was waiting.

"Confident, kind, undoubtedly trust-worthy, but rather rash and impulsive, aren't you?" a small voice reeled off. Roxanne rather thought it sounded hurried, as though it wanted to be finished with her quickly. "Curious, terribly curious, and open-minded. An interesting combination – ah! You've got a secret, haven't you, Roxanne Weasley?"

_Not a secret, exactly_, Roxanne thought, a bit taken aback with how much the hat could see.

"I can see everything," it told her, perhaps a little pompously. "Including that quieter side of you, we'll call it. Although I don't know why you'd hide brains like that away. Being curious isn't a sin."

_You wouldn't understand,_ Roxanne sighed. She had rather been afraid this conversation might come up. Her brother had told her all kinds of stories about the sorting, mostly wildly tall tales in the beginning, but the truth had come out in the end. And she had been nervous about what the hat might see in her ever since.

"There is very little I wouldn't understand," the hat said now. "You've a sharp mind. You use it well, yet you pretend academic knowledge holds little appeal to you to be like your brother. Is that not accurate?" But the hat didn't wait for her confirmation. "You are a thinker, one with your wits about you and wisdom already stored up. You would excel in Ravenclaw, certainly."

Roxanne couldn't help but cringe at the very thought. It wasn't as though she didn't like being smart, it was more that she didn't like _having _to be smart. And she could only imagine Fred's reacting should she be put in Ravenclaw. He was sure, far beyond any doubts, that his sister was Gryffindor through and through.

"There are always surprises about the ones we think we know best," the hat told her, listening in on her every thought. "I do not exist to live up to expectations."

_But that's the thing_, Roxanne told the hat earnestly. _I may have a whole collection of books hidden under my bed now, but if you put me in Ravenclaw and I _have _to be top of my class, well I know I'll stop studying just to prove everybody wrong! I'm stubborn like that, can't you see it in side my head?_

"Yes, yes, I see it," the hat said impatiently. "You aren't afraid to go after what you want, and to get it either, Slytherin maybe?"

Roxanne couldn't help but recoil in horror. If she thought her brother's reaction to Ravenclaw would be bad….

_With all due respect, I am NOT a Slytherin_. But the hat had already moved on.

"No, not ambitious enough. Nor cunning enough, though you _could _be if you wanted to be…. Well, if you won't stay studious in Ravenclaw, all I can label you as is bold. Brave and with enough nerve to do as you like no matter what, go on to GRYFFINDOR!"

Roxanne blinked in the sudden brightness of the hall, barely hearing the thunderous cries from her cousins and new friends over at the Gryffindor table. She slid off the stool and began walking over towards them, grinning as if there had never been any doubt that was where she would end up. It was the best place for her, she though happily as Fred and James both clapped her on the back and Dominique got up to hug her. How else was she to keep an eye on her brother? Where else would she have roommates daring enough to break the rules for a bit of fun? Where else would Roxanne be able to be herself with no expectations resting on her shoulders?

XxXxX

_Lily Luna Potter and Hugo Arthur Weasley – 2019 _

At long last the sorting of the last Potter and Weasley came around. (At least for this generation.) The eleven students who had come before had all found their way into Gryffindor. This sorting was the moment of truth, and it wasn't only the Potter/Weasley family that was looking forward to it with keen interest. By this point more than one teacher had made predictions on whether the entire family would end up in Gryffindor, and who and how the trend would be broken with.

Lily and Hugo filed into the hall with the rest of their year, Lily leading the way as was her custom, and Hugo following, as was his. Their bright red hair stood out in the line of first years as so many of their cousins', uncles', and aunt's had in years past. Lily gaped around at the star-strewn ceiling, the long house tables, all the details of the room that none of the many stories she had heard had quite managed to capture to perfection. This was where history was made, she thought. This was where her father and the rest of her family had won a war.

Hugo was looking around, too, but all he could think was that it was very unfair to show them a magnificent sight like this for the first time right before the sorting. He was too queasy to enjoy any of it.

"Don't worry, Hugo," Lily leaned over to whisper in his ear.

"Why not?" Hugo demanded in a horse squeak.

"Because Al told me you can pick your house if you ask the hat right."

Lily leaned up on her toes to scan the hall for her brothers. No, she wasn't nervous exactly, but it was still nice to have them close by. She spotted James, Fred and their friends clustered halfway up a table on the far end. Of course James was being a prat and not even looking her way, too busy looking at that magazine his friend Aaron had brought under the table. They'd hidden it away when she'd come to find James on the train ride, all five of the boys turning brick red.

Albus was looking for her though. He grinned and winked as Rose waved from beside him. As Lily watched, Albus slipped Rose a folded piece of paper, which her cousin dropped to the floor, slipped her wand into her hand, and set sliding across the hall to the table on the other end where Al's friend Scorpius picked it up and read it, smirking. He noticed her watching him and offered a friendly sort of wave, the only friendly gesture from that table.

"But Lily, I'm no good at telling people what I want," Hugo hissed back, too busy worrying over the sorting to notice his sister was trying to catch his eye.

Lily turned her gaze on him squarely. "It's easy! You just decide what you want, then say it."

Hugo rolled his eyes. "You know what I mean."

The girl beside Lily jabbed an elbow into Lily's side as she was about to retort and Lily looked around. The girl had a pointed nose, dirty blonde hair, thick glasses, and a severe expression. She raised a finger to her lips pointedly and turned back to the sorting, which was somewhere around the M's. Lily scowled, but decided it maybe was a better idea to stay quiet before her mouth got her into real trouble.

So she occupied herself instead by surveying the hall for friendly faces. The rest of her family was easy to find. Roxanne sat not far up the table from Fred, her long black curs bouncing as she turned her head, whispering to Lucy, who sat beside her. Lucy elbowed Roxanne in the side and nodded towards Lily and Hugo. Both girls waved and smiled, Roxanne pointing to the empty seats they had saved at the table for them. Lily grinned her appreciation of this, but Hugo groaned softly beside her.

"Now they've jinxed us," he murmured.

Dominique tipped them a wink from where she lounged with the rest of the sixth years, her Quidditch captain badge gleaming proudly on her chest. Louis was busy writing the letter to Uncle Charlie he had started on the train, not paying the slightest attention to the purple goo Fred kept leaning over to drip down his back. And at the far end of the table, Molly surveyed all of this with her usual sharp eyes, fingering the new Head Girl badge she and her father had spent the whole summer revering.

Lily tried to get a smile out of Molly through two more sortings, but it was as useless as trying to get James to shut up about Quidditch in the week leading up to the World Cup, so Lily moved on to the other two house tables.

She knew people here, too, vaguely anyway. A few of them were the children of her parents' friends whom she had met a few times at reunions or in passing. A few more were faces she recognized from the train. But it was obvious where she would have the most people to turn to.

"Potter, Lily!"

Lily scuttled forward, wide eyes too fixed on the hat to notice that James had finally looked up or that Molly's lips had twitched up at the corners. Professor Lancing dropped the hat on her head and Lily sat and waited.

"Interesting… plenty of courage I see, yes, plenty. A strong sense of justice, no doubt. A great deal of compassion and an… artistic way of thinking about things. A cunning side, too, if I'm not mistaken. You know how to get your own way. There's no telling where you might go if you gave into ambition with that sense of justice. Yes, Slytherin would be quite the fit for you."

Lily could not say that she was taken by surprise. James had said only last night how very Slytherin-y she could be. But that did not stop her insides from squirming at the very thought of joining that table, of being the first in her family in who-knew-or-could-even-count how many years.

Well, Lily just wasn't going to stand for that.

_No, I don't think I'd like Slytherin very much_, she told the hat pleasantly.

"No? But if you wish to succeed, if you wish to make a difference, Slytherin will help you. You could be great, Lily Potter."

_Maybe I don't want to be great. Everybody else in my family's great. I think I'd rather stand out._

"Do I sense sarcasm?" the hat asked.

Lily mentally bit her tongue. She had spent too much time around James this summer. She was anything but bitter about her family's large shadow. Lily never had any trouble making herself heard above the clamor.

"Cheeky, aren't you? Slytherin would definitely be a good fit."

_I don't think so_, Lily insisted calmly. _You can put me anywhere you like, even if it's not Gryffindor, but I won't go to Slytherin. Don't you know who I am? All the Death Eater's kids would beat me up! _

"I find it hard to believe you would let them. You have far too much nerve and fight in you."

_Exactly._

"Now don't you try flipping my words on me, Lily Potter. That's the sort of cunning thing I'd expect from –"

_Don't say it! _

Now real panic had begun to set in. James had only been joking last night when she said she might end up in Slytherin, and Al had gone off defending the house just as their father often did. But Lily had heard too many stories. She did not want to become a manipulator. It wasn't always a bad thing to be. Scorpius worked it to his advantage when he had to, one of her father's best Aurors could lead a team better than even her father because she could get people to do what needed to be done. But Lily did not want to be known for that. She was afraid of what getting into that habit would turn her into.

So she stopped trying to persuade the hat and reverted to sheer will, sending wave after mental wave at the hat. _Not Slytherin_.

"Alright, alright," the hat said after a moment, sounding distinctly ruffled. "I get the point. If you won't be swayed –"

_I won't be_.

" – then GRYFFINDOR!"

Lily sagged with relief as the Great Hall reappeared around he and a storm of applause erupted in her ears. She leapt down off the stool, grinning broadly and skipped down to the hoard of cousins applauding her.

"What _took _you so long?" James demanded, ruffling up her hair.

Hugo gulped. There had been no doubt in his mind that Lily would end up in Gryffindor. He had entertained the hope that she might get into Hufflepuff, the way she insisted so adamantly that everything be fair, even among the owls. But in the end, Lily was brave. Hugo thought she just might be the bravest girl he knew, even braver than his sister. He might have been able to make it into Hufflepuff, but Gryffindor? That seemed like a longshot.

And now he really _would _be the only Weasley not in Gryffindor, the one to mess everything up.

Hugo was the last one left up in front of the teachers. Roma, Spencer had just wondered forward and all too soon been declared a Slytherin. Now it was Hugo's turn. He started moving even before Lancing called his name, feeling as if every eye in the place, even those of the millions of stars winking down from the ceiling, were on him.

"Weasley, Hugo! Er, there you are, very good."

Hugo had already slid onto the stool. He waited with his eyes squeezed shut for the hat to be dropped over his head and his fate to be decided.

"Mmhm, yes, I see," a voice said in his ear. Hugo knew it was coming. He didn't even flinch. "Very loyal, generous, hardworking, hmm, bit naïve. Something of a push-over, but diligent, fair, willing to admit your mistakes, a good student, I'd say Hufflepuff is the place for you."

Yes, that was what he had expected.

"And you agree? Excellent! Then off to –"

_No!_

"What?"

Hugo's heart was hammering more than it ought to be. Decide what you want: Hugo didn't want to be the odd one out, and it had nothing to do with being afraid of breaking the trend. He wanted to be brave like his parents, like his sister, like his cousins and grandparents. But Lily had missed a step when she'd given him the instructions. You couldn't just _ask _for what you wanted. You had to _do _what you wanted, sometimes.

"Well? What is it?" the hat asked impatiently and, Hugo thought, unnecessarily. It could read his thoughts after all.

"Well, that doesn't let you off the hook," the hat told him, proving Hugo's point.

_I – I want to be in Gryffindor, _Hugo declared with as much force as he could put into the words.

"Do you now?" the hat asked.

_Yes_.

He expected an argument, for obviously the sorting hat thought he belonged in Hufflepuff. But instead he received a sound almost like a wheezy chuckle or a rustling of fabric.

"Very well then. Gryffindor it is."

_Really? _Hugo asked, taken aback.

"Unless you've changed your mind?"

_No, definitely haven't. And you'd know, anyway_.

"I would," the hat agreed. Then it made it's weird laugh again. "There are many kinds of bravery, Hugo Weasley. You'll be suited quite nicely in GRYFFINDOR!"

There was instant uproar. Not just from the Gryffindor table, either. As Hugo leapt off the stool, flushed with his victory, he saw Neville pump his fist, Hagrid pounded the table with one great fist (bouncing one of the golden goblets to the floor), and the stately witch on McGonagall's left sidelet out a sharp "Ha!" he thought must be quite unlike her from all the odd looks her staff members and students gave her. But the witch was too busy giving her own smug look to Lancing.

Other than fleeting bafflement, Hugo didn't spare the teachers' reactions much though. He raced down to the Gryffindor table where Lily met him with the bone-crushing hug she had learned from their grandmother and Rose ruffled his hair because she knew he hated it and the rest of his cousins and their friends bore down on him with their congratulations and exclamations, for whether they admitted it or not, they had all been hoping to keep the streak going.

Not a one of them were the same. Teddy followed his mother's and godfather's footsteps and became an Auror, Dominique would eventually return to Hogwarts to take Madam Hooch's place as referee and flying instructor, Albus preferred the company of dusty history books to the chaos of the joke shop Fred and James took over, Rose was a cut-throat defense attorney for the department of Magical Law Enforcement, Louis ended up in Romania with Uncle Charlie and his dragons. But when it came down to it, they were all some shade of scarlet and gold.

**A/N: Well, that turned out much, much longer than I intended it ever to go. I almost split this up into two chapters. And now some of the future has been revealed career-wise. I've kept the destinies of my next-gen rather quiet until now, but there you have it. Part of it, anyway. **

**Thanks for reading and please please please let me know how the last installment was! **


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